<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Liar's Folly by Madriddler</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26880364">Liar's Folly</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madriddler/pseuds/Madriddler'>Madriddler</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Drama, Focus on the Murder Mystery, Light gay romance, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Secrets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:28:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26880364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madriddler/pseuds/Madriddler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven Highschoolers, each with their own troubling secrets, are called out of the blue to come to school at night or face having their secrets revealed. Leon Sullen and his best friend Christopher Neason are two of the seven students. They go to their school and find their blackmailer who gives them a simple choice: Do as he says, or die. But the choice becomes difficult when a murder happens. Now, locked in the school, the seven students must figure out which among them killed their blackmailer or else they will all suffer the blame and have their secrets revealed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Male Character/Original Male Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Deadly Letter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My first Original Story! And before you ask, yes this is *lightly* inspired by Danganronpa. Can you figure out the students' secrets and the murderer before they do?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Liar’s Folly</p><p>A Deadly Letter</p><p>I did not know how I have gotten the letter. It was just waiting for me at the bottom of my bag underneath my notebooks and folders. I wasn’t scared when I first saw it, I was most curiously, however as I reached in and open it up, I have to admit that there was a small spark of anticipation that drove through me. The letter wasn’t written or typed out like normal. Instead, it looked like a crazy person made it with cut out letters from magazines and newspapers.</p><p>
  <em>Hello Leon Sullen</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I know your secret. If you don’t want the entire school to know you will follow my instructions. On Friday Night tonight at precisely ten p.m. you will come to school alone. Leave your phone at home, we do not want to get any silly ideas now do we? But just in case you think I am joking, then maybe we should have Mr. Tellen have a look at your last ten test scores? I am sure he will be very interested to hear how you’ve gotten your answers.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Come to school at ten p.m.. No phone. Tell no one. If you do not, then by tomorrow everyone will know about how our lovely gay nobody stole his grades.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>From,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>L.</em>
</p><p>My hands trembled. No, this can’t be real. This had to be some sort of joke. I looked around my room, feeling suddenly enclosed. This had to be a joke or something! I pulled out my phone and was about to text my best friend only to stop, my fingers freezing over the screen. I don’t know why I stopped; my eyes moved from my phone to the letter. <em>Who could know? I was alone when I took those pictures, </em>or at least I thought I was. Was someone else there? Or saw me through a window? No, no that can’t be.</p><p>I could feel myself falling, spiraling into a despair as I went over time and time again when I took those pictures. I was alone, I was by myself, it was after school, Mr. Tellen went home. I snapped out by my phone vibrating. I jumped slightly at the text. It was from my friend.</p><p>
  <em>Lee, I need you here now.</em>
</p><p>It was only four, I had plenty of time. I moved automatically, grabbing both my bag and the letter. “I’m going to Chris’!” I shouted to my parents on the way out. They didn’t care, it would be pointless to argue really since Chris lives right across from us.</p><p>I ran across the street to the modest-sized two-story house and knocked on the door. It opened a moment later, a large burly Irishman answering, “Hello Leon,” he grunted, “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Chris texted me,” I answered politely, “It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Neason.”</p><p>Mr. Neason just nodded and moved out of the way, holding the door open for me. I walked in and my body moved automatically as I made my way upstairs and into Chris’s room. I didn’t knock as I walked in to see my friend sitting on his bed.</p><p>Chris was a tall teen, six-foot and thick with muscles. He had a square face with red hair and, in my opinion, very handsome. Not that I would ever tell him that. …He was an athlete, on our school’s wrestling team, and his father was very proud about that. Normally my friend was always smiling, I never saw him cry or even worried, however, the expression on his face made me stop.</p><p>He looked as though his soul has left his body. A depressed frown that made his face look heavy faced mine, and as I stared at my friend I saw, to my horror, he had a letter. I took a cautious step forward and closed the door behind me. “Chris?”</p><p>“Lee, help,” Chris said, he held up the letter. I quickly got to his side and took the letter gently, seeing the same cutout letters that were on my letter.</p><p>“You got one too?” I said.</p><p>“You too?” Chris asked. I nodded and handed him my letter. We both stared at each other’s letter for a moment before actually reading it.</p><p>
  <em>Hello Christopher Neason</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I know your secret. If you don’t want the entire school to know you will follow my instructions. On Friday Night tonight at precisely ten p.m. you will come to school alone. Leave your phone at home, we don’t want to get any silly ideas now do we? But just in case you think I am joking, then maybe we should have a talk with Coach Fitzpatrick, or maybe even your father? I am sure that they will both be delighted to know your little fairy secret. I am sure there is no shame in being a homosexual, however, how will those around you react? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Come to school at ten p.m.. No phone. Tell no one. If you do not, then by tomorrow everyone will know about how our star wrestler loves taking it up the ass.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>From,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>L.</em>
</p><p>I stared in horror as my eyes became teary. “Where?” I whispered.</p><p>“I found it in my gym bag,” Chris said. “Lee, what am I going to do? If my dad finds out—”</p><p>I quickly hugged my friend, taking a selfish moment to just enjoy the experience of having him in my arms before remembering the seriousness of the situation. He stiffened before relaxing, hugging me as well before moving away. “What are we going to do?” I asked the room after a long, scared silence.</p><p>“What can we do? We can’t let this get out,” Chris said. I sighed and frowned.</p><p>“We have to go, don’t we? I don’t think we have a choice,” I said.</p><p>Chris frowned at that, hanging his head. “I guess we don’t,” he said sadly. I stood up and went to Chris’s mirror to just stare at my reflection.</p><p>I was always a small boy growing up. While Chris was six feet tall, I barely reached five foot six, and still have some baby fat. Or regular fat. I’ll admit I tended to eat too many cookies at times. I’m not grossly overweight, but I am a little overweight and could afford to lose a few pounds, I guess. But I don’t particularly want to. At least my face was pretty, my hair was on the longer side and a dark brown which mixed well with my green eyes. I sighed and shook my head, even focusing on my body couldn’t push away the small dread that was growing inside me. I turned to Chris and stood awkwardly. “Can I stay here? For a little while,” I asked.</p><p>“Please,” Chris begged.</p><p>In the end, I stayed the entire time with Chris until we were supposed to leave for school. As instructed, we left our phones in Chris’ room and were able to sneak out of his home and to his car. The drive to school was silent and tense, neither of us wanting to talk or even try to. My body felt heavy the closer we got to it. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest and my lungs felt like they were filled with freezing air.</p><p>Our high school was a towering building with a fake tower in the middle with the rest of the building sort of falling from the middle, leveling out at two stories. It’s usual window-filled front walls looked almost ominous as Chris parked in front of the school. Everything inside was turned off, and for a moment I hoped that this would all be a joke. We sat in Chris’s car and just stared at each other for a moment. I took a breath, steeling myself, and nodded at Chris. “Are you ready?” I asked.</p><p>“No,” he said honestly, “but let’s go.”</p><p>We got out of his car and walked slowly to the front door. Something in the back of my mind hoped that it would be locked, but as Chris wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled, it opened easily. I let out a whimper and glanced at Chris who led the way inside.</p><p>Being in school at night was very weird. Everything looked different. The main entrance, which was normally filled with students looked oddly bigger, our footsteps echoing as we walked further in, looking around. Everywhere was dark until I turned to look down the hallway to our right. There was a light filtering out of a classroom. We walked towards it slowly and once again I felt my heart beating out as my hands started to tremble.</p><p>We stopped right outside when he heard voices. We stopped for a second before walking into the room.</p><p>It was a classroom, and we were not alone. There were five others in there. I recognized some of them. They all were holding similar letters that Chris and I were holding. The closest jumped off the desk she was sitting on and glared at us, putting her hands on her waist. “What do you think you’re playing at you bitch Leon?” she demanded, waving her letter in front of us.</p><p>“I don’t know Cynthia!” I said. She was a taller girl and rather busty. Cynthia Maria Rosenburg, the school’s fashion queen. She always walked around wearing the newest and most expensive clothing and right now it was no exception. She was wearing a shiny pink shirt with a mini skirt and long thigh boots. She had a small purse, and her face was pretty with green eyes and long brown hair. However, now everything looked scary as she glared at me.</p><p>“Bullshit you don’t, Lee! Why else do we have a letter signed from you? Huh, <em>L?” </em>she said.</p><p>“That wasn’t me,” I said, “I got a letter too, as did Chris!” I held up the letters and glanced at Chris, who nodded.</p><p>“Wait, you guys have a letter too?” the second girl asked. She had short blonde hair and brown eyes and was wearing just a normal pair of jeans and a shirt with “Gay Pride” on it. Over her shoulder, she had a satchel bag, its strap decorated with many different pins for different movements, many of them being feminist. I recognized her immediately, she kept trying to push me to join the Gay and Straight Alliance, but I couldn’t remember her name.</p><p>“Yeah, we do, uhh…”</p><p>“Faine,” the girl said. “Faine Joanne Owens,” she immediately stretched her hand out to shake mine and Chris’s. “I know who you two are, obviously. Leon Sullen, I tried to get you to join our GSA multiple times, don’t you know the strife and tribulations your fellow LGBT members suffer just in our area alone?”</p><p>“Uhhh,” I did not know how to respond. I only took a step from her and asked, “You all got a letter?”</p><p>“Yeah, though I don’t know why I got one, lies were written on mine, I’m an open book,” Faine said. “And Lizzie, well everyone loves Lizzie right,” she pointed to a girl with purple-dyed hair. She grinned and waved at us, saying just, “Hey boys!” We waved awkwardly back at her.</p><p>Cynthia made an annoying noise and crossed her arms, she moved away to lean against the teacher’s desk. Chris and I moved further into the room to see the last two people who were with us. I immediately recognize the first one.</p><p>Trent Rivera. A tall boy with black hair and dark eyes. He wore a black shirt with cargo pants and had his ears and eyebrows pierced. He had a lasting scowl, and I felt a twinge of fear. Anyone who knew Trent knew that he was trouble. There was a rumor last year that he was part of a gang that caused twenty people to go to the hospital. He saw us and gave a growl, “The fuck you looking at?” he demanded, and I jumped a little closer to Chris. Chris stood taller and glared back.</p><p>“The fuck is wrong with you, Rivera?” he demanded.</p><p>“Nothing, just wastin’ a Friday night with you morons and Daddy’s Princess,” Rivera said. “Especially fucking dusty pussy over there,” he jabbed a finger towards Faine.</p><p>“HEY!” Faine yelled, Trent just giving her the middle finger. I did not want to continue their argument at all, so I pulled Chris with me to the final person. He was a short skinny twig of a boy sitting in the corner. He had a hood and was hunched over a notebook he was drawing in.</p><p>Chris and I got close enough to see that he was drawing an anime woman with giant unrealistic, and highly detailed, breasts. He looked up at us for a moment and we stared at each other. “Hi, uh, do you know why we’re here?”</p><p>“No… I don’t,” he said.</p><p>“I’m Leon, and this is Chris,” I said.</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“Uhm, what’s your name?” I asked.</p><p>He hesitated and looked at us before frowning, “Jules Tully,” he said then went back to his drawing. I frowned and looked at Chris who just shrugged.</p><p>We took two desks and pulled them towards the window, away from the other, and sat down. The room was unnaturally quiet, and I started to fidget as we waited. Chris sighed and leaned back, stretching in the chair as Faine paced the room, looking more and more irritated with each lap she made. Cynthia and Trent just sat bored while Lizzie looked unusually perky, trying to get us to start a conversation.</p><p>Suddenly there was a buzz as the intercoms went online and a high voice cleared its voice. “Ahem, hem. Good evening everyone! I’m so happy to see you all here! I hope you enjoy my letters; it took me a long time to make them. Now, please come to the right-hand hallway on the first floor. There we will have a wonderful surprise for all of you! See you soon, Phuhuhuhu.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Deadly Revelation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A Deadly Revelation</p><p>“Fucking finally,” Trent muttered. “The sooner we get this done the sooner I can leave.” He got up from his seat and walked out of the classroom without pause or any fear. The rest of us, however, hesitated for a moment. We left one by one, Chris and I sticking together as Jules followed us. I looked around as we walked to see everyone’s faces. Jules and Faine looked as scared as I felt while Cynthia, like Trent, looked more annoyed than anything else while Lizzie smiled as they walked. “I’m sure everything will be fine,” she said, “and you have to admit this is a bit of fun!”</p><p>“Yes Lizzie, it is ‘fun’ being blackmailed to come to school in the middle of the night,” Cynthia drawled, “What is wrong with you?”</p><p>We continued to walk down the corridor, walking carefully in the dark until the lights blinded us, and we stopped in the middle. “The fuck…”</p><p>Normally the hallway had lockers on either side, clean grey lockers that were, at worst, chipped or dented. However now, seven of the lockers had our names and pictures on them. There was another buzz, and the same high voice came from the intercoms. “Surprise! I got a little gift from me to you. Go to the locker with your name and picture and open up for a surprise.”</p><p>I swallowed heavily and looked around for my picture. It was between Faine’s and Cynthia’s. Nobody moved, everyone, staring at each other. The buzz came again, and the voice said, “I mean if you want me to read all of your secrets here and now I’m fine with that. Did you all know that Faine Joanne Owens is actually—”</p><p>“Stop!” Faine yelled. She huffed and stomped to her locker, opening it. Slowly, we followed suit, drifting to our own lockers, and opening them. In my locker, I found two pieces of paper. I picked up the first picture and my face paled as I read it. <em>“Leon Sullen: The Lying Nobody. Despite being a friendly nobody and shadow of Christopher Neason, Leon Sullen is actually a cheater! He stole test answers from teachers’ desks directly for the last three months!” </em>I dropped that piece of paper and swallowed once more, a cold sweat going over.</p><p>I bent down and slowly reached for the second piece of paper and stood up. “Don’t read that yet Leon!” a voice said.</p><p>I turned to see everyone else was staring not at each other, but at a new eighth person. He was smiling brightly at us, looking rather happy to see us all. He had black hair and blue eyes and rather pale skin; rather average in both height and appearance, to be honest however he was wearing a very odd hoodie that was both black and white. Cynthia glared at him and stepped forward, speaking our minds, “Lake!? What the fuck are you doing here?” she demanded.</p><p>Lake just turned to her and said, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m freeing you all! So many naughty lies, and in this day and age! So no, don’t you read my list of demands yet Leon Sullen, the Lying Nobody, not until I say you do!”</p><p>“Lying Nobody? The fuck does that mean?” Chris demanded.</p><p>Lake just grinned at him and stretched, “You know what it means,” he chuckled. “I’ve decided to give you all a nice title that reflects all of your crimes and secrets. Now, the first piece of paper which you all read is what I will share with the school at large! And not just the school, but your parents, family members, and friends as well!” He grinned and flexed his fingers before playing with a ring on his middle finger, holding the other fingers down as he stuck out his tongue.</p><p>“You piece of shit,” Trent cursed, “What the fuck you playing at? This shit gets you off or somethin’?”</p><p>“Get’s me off?” Lake asked, turning his head to the side as he looked a little pensive, “Gets me off… Get me off singular?” He gave a small gasp and snapped his fingers, “Oh! You mean if it makes me horny? No, it doesn’t,” Lake laughed. “Honestly, I’m doing all of this for your sake.” His innocent smile turned a little lewd, “however if you want to know what gets me off, I can show you later Trent. You’re just my type!”</p><p>“Fuck off!” Trent cursed, “I don’t want any of that gay shit near me.”</p><p>Woah, woah, woah, woah! Talking like that nowadays,” Lake said, “Not cool bro, not cool.” He shook his head before looking at the others. “Now, since we’ve gotten our flirting out of the way, please pick up the second piece of paper that Lee is just too excited to read.”</p><p>We all moved as one, turning back to our lockers to pick up the second piece of paper. This one was actually handwritten instead of using cut-up letters or typed. “First, take a look at my handwriting, it took me hours to get the letters to look so nice and clean,” Lake said. I looked down at the paper, focusing more on the list of demands than how good the cartography was.</p><p>
  <em>What I want:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>200 Bucks per month.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Test answers for all of our classes for the rest of the year.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You to be my friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Or, if you really don’t want to do that, then all I want for you is to simply die. </em>
</p><p>“What—what is this?” I asked, “you want us to kill ourselves?”</p><p>“Ooh, you read ahead,” Lake chuckled, “Bad Leon! Bad, bad Leon! But yes, if you don’t do the first three tasks, then yeah I want you all to die. I mean, it would be a greatly better option than having your secrets released. Just think of all the ways your lives would be ruined!” Lake smiled as though he just told a great joke and was waiting for us to laugh.</p><p>“Are you kidding me?” Cynthia demanded. “This crap isn’t even funny anymore! You can’t be serious.”</p><p>“Oh but I am serious, Cynthia, deadly serious,” Lake said. His demeanor changed quite suddenly. His smile left, replaced by a blank stare and his hand started to twitch as he stared down at each of us. “Every single one of you did something terrible, hid an important part of yourself from the world. I am here tonight to set it free, set all of it free. Hiding who we are, it just burdens us. Year after year, day after day the burden of who we are grows and grows until we are all just <em>BAM </em>crushed under the weight. I was like that too, I felt the weight push me down, hiding who I am as everyone else goes about their day. The pain of it all, dragging around our anxiety, our misery, our fears of reaching out and holding onto our truths, why it dragged me down into the deepest pits of despair. But then I had a revelation, an epiphany to embrace who I am, and after that everything became perfect! The despair that I once sank into became my home, my savior—so you see, the only way to release you all from this burden of secrecy is to drag you down to despair! And I will drag each of you down, you will learn to revel in our despair and together—we shall all be free!” He laughed a disgusting laugh, a high laugh that caused a pit to form in my stomach. I looked around at everyone to see that they too looked scared.</p><p>Trent’s fear, however, turned to rage. “That’s it, you bastard!” He lunged at Lake; his fist raised to punch Lake. Lake, however, showing a speed I never knew he had dodged Trent’s attack and his twitching hand pulled out a pocketknife, slicing at Trent’s side. I gasped as I saw blood and Trent fell, groaning in pain. His shirt was ripped, showing a long shallow cut that was bleeding.</p><p>“That is what happens if you don’t accept my gift,” Lake sighed, looking at the blood-painted knife. He looked down at Trent before waving the knife at each one of us. “Think about it,” he said. “In an hour, we’ll all come back here and be best pals forever.” He grinned and walked away, humming a tune to himself.</p><p>We all stood for a moment, shocked at what happened. Trent was the first to move, getting to his feet. He was wincing in pain but when I stepped forward to help him, he snarled at me. “I don’t need help,” he gritted. “Fucking psycho.” He pressed his hand to his wound for a second before pulling his hand back, seeing blood. “Fuck!” He cursed again and pressed his hand once more. “I’m going to the nurse's office, don’t follow me,” he said. He spat on the ground where Lake stood and left us all.</p><p>More silence followed, and Chris went to my side. “Come on,” he said, and he started to walk down the hallway. I followed and looked back over my shoulder to see that everyone else was separating.</p><p>Chris and I made our way to the cafeteria, holding our list of demands in hand. We were silent on the way there, and Chris sat me down at one of the many tables before going to the service counters where the lunch ladies usually served our lunches. There was a bottom Dutch door that the lunch ladies used to enter and exit the kitchen area and main cafeteria. He opened it and went behind the counter before going into the kitchen proper. I sighed and waited a couple of minutes, staring at my list of demands.</p><p>Chris returned a few moments later holding water bottles and random snacks that he was able to find. “You won’t believe how many cans they have in there,” he said, smiling jokingly, “it’s like they’re stocking up for doomsday or something!”</p><p>I forced myself to smile as Chris sits next to me. He handed me a bottle of water and a banana. We ate in silence. I’m not really hungry but nibbling at the banana gave me something to do besides think about what happened and what was going to happen. I glanced at Chris and blushed as I watch him take as much of his banana as he could before biting. It was a trick he always did to show off, although it only caused his fellow jocks to laugh and make gay jokes. I shifted closer to Chris and looked away as my heart started to race. <em>He can never know, I don’t want to ruin this, </em>I thought sadly.</p><p>“Leon, what are we going to do?” Chris asked, using my full name. I forced myself to look at him. He only used my full name whenever it was completely serious.</p><p>“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “I’ll get kicked out if they find out what I did. I could kiss college goodbye.”</p><p>“So can I,” Chris frowned. “But not before Dad beats me.” He looked as though he was going to cry again, his beautiful eyes watering and shimmering. I immediately dropped everything and hugged him, pressing my chubby body against the well-muscled Adonis. He stiffened before relaxing, turning to hold tight to me. We held onto each other, my body heating from both his body and my blush. I felt a greedy desire to have this moment last forever, just Chris and me alone, holding on and never letting go. Let the world die, let it sink into obscurity, as long as I can keep like this, holding onto the boy I love like this, that is all I ever want. But the world doesn’t work like that.</p><p>Sooner or later, you have to let go, even if you don’t want to.</p><p>Chris moved away, wiping his face with his hand. “I’m sorry Lee, you shouldn’t have to see me like that,” he said, trying to give a smile.</p><p><em>I want to. I want to see every emotion on your face. </em>“It’s okay,” I said aloud. Though it hurt me, I gave Chris a smile. “Hey Chris, you remember the promise we made? When we were young.”</p><p>Chris frowned, “What does that have to with this?” he asked.</p><p>I just shook my head and continued to smile. “I just moved in. I was five, six at the time. I was so scared of starting a new school after spending only a year in my old one. I used to cry just at the thought of it. One day, I cried so long and so loud that you ran all the way over just to see what was going on.”</p><p>“Yeah, I remember,” Chris chuckled. “I thought a cat died or something! I wanted to see if I could help.”</p><p>“Yeah, but instead it was just me,” I smiled. “A tiny kid all alone, crying over what he was going to do during Math!” We both chuckled. “You remember what you did?”</p><p>“Fuck yes I do!” Chris said, “how can I not? That’s the day I met you. I was dressed up playing with my older sister. She was a princess, and I was a knight, right. Had this cool wooden sword and everything! And I thought you were a girl with your long hair.”</p><p>“Hey! Don’t insult my hair!” I said. Chris laughed and pulled at a long strand, which caused me to huff.</p><p>“Point is, I stuck my wooden sword in the air and said all heroically, ‘Stop Crying Princess! Sir Christopher is here to slay the dragons!’ You should have seen the look on your face! You screamed and jumped away.”</p><p>“Well, you would too if a random kid with a <em>sword </em>just randomly comes into your front yard and wave it around like you were,” I countered. “But it did make me stop crying.”</p><p>“Yeah, and instead of saving another princess, I saved my future bro,” Chris grinned. “I picked you up and we played the rest of the day!”</p><p>“Yeah,” I smiled, my heart beating as we were starting to reach the point, the begging of it all, really. My fascination with Chris, a fascination that turned into a friendship and ultimately, my secret love for him. “It was getting late and you finally asked me why I was crying. I told you I was scared of school, and when you find out we were going to the same school, you truly did act like the knight you were dressed as.”</p><p>“Oh god, don’t remind me,” Chris groaned but I couldn’t help but smile. It was really cute what he did.</p><p>“You took my hand and raised your wooden sword yelling, ‘School’s better watch out for us knights! For we always look after each other!’” I said.</p><p>“I said don’t remind me,” Chris groaned.</p><p>“Point is, that you’ve been doing just that,” I said, reaching out for his hand. He didn’t pull away and I held on tightly. “You protected me all this time. Bullies, math, gym, what have you. You made sure that I never felt alone or forgotten. Hell even when you started wrestling, you always made time for me. So, now it’s my turn to protect you. Lake will not win; I am telling you this now. I’ll protect you from whatever comes our way. I promise.”</p><p>“Leon,” Chris whispered. We stared at each other and I felt my eyes getting misty as did Chris’s. He gave a smile and sniffled, “Damn it, Lee, why’d you have to make me cry twice in front of you!”</p><p>“Come here,” I said and pulled him in for a tighter hug. “I’ll always be with you Christopher, I promise,” I whispered.</p><p>“You’re such a sap Leon,” Chris sniffled, “but I promise too.” We held onto each other again, this time my feeling of warmth and closeness feeling justified. In the back of my mind, I wanted to kiss him but I knew that was far from appropriate.</p><p>The door opened and we jumped away. Chris stood up, his fists ready, only to relax when he saw that it was Faine. “Hey boys,” she said. “How are you two holding up?”</p><p>“Alright, you?” Chris said.</p><p>“I’m doing fine,” she said, walking to the kitchen entrance. “Cynthia’s locked herself up in the bathroom if you could believe it. She’s probably crying for her Daddy to come and save her in a shower of money.” She opened the half-door and walked in towards the kitchen entrance. “I’m just here to get some food, I forgot to eat dinner. Too nervous to eat, and now that we’re here with Lake’s shit, I figure might as well eat now.”</p><p>“First time I heard you curse,” Chris said. Faine stopped and looked at the two of us. “First time for everything, I guess,” she shrugged and went into the kitchen.</p><p>Chris sat down and we went back to silently eating, neither one of us wanting to talk or move while Faine was inside. She came out almost six minutes later, adjusting her bag as she held several brownies. She stuffed one in her mouth as she walked towards us, putting a brownie each in front of each of us. “See you at the end of the hour, I guess,” she said, looking at the wall. “We got forty minutes left I think.”</p><p>“Huh,” Chris said. He glanced at the clock and frowned. “Well, we’ll just be here till then I guess.”</p><p>“Okay,” Faine said. “See you, boys.” She left the cafeteria and we turned back to face each other.</p><p>“You know, we still have to figure out what to do,” I said grimly.</p><p>“I know,” Chris said. We glanced at the brownies and for once I didn’t feel hungry. I pushed mine to the side and took another sip of water. “Lee? What does he want you to do?” he asked.</p><p>I pulled out my demands and read them off. “He wants me to cheat for him, as well as give him two hundred dollars a month. You?”</p><p>“Same with the money, however, he always wants me to perform… acts for him,” Chris said, looking disgusted. “Posing in my wrestling uniform while hard.”</p><p>“More blackmail material,” I guessed, and Chris nodded.</p><p>“It’s either that or kill ourselves,” Chris said, “and I will never let that happen to you Lee.”</p><p>“Same with you Chris,” I said. “But I don’t know how I’ll be able to get two hundred dollars a month without my parents noticing!” We sighed and just leaned against each other. I completely became lost in my thoughts, worrying about what to do. It seemed that Chris was lost in his mind as well as neither of us talked anymore.</p><p>The last forty minutes passed in this silence, small despair seeding in my stomach. I cried. It wasn’t a loud cry, just a silent one as I just didn’t hold back the tears flooding from my eyes. Chris didn’t move to comfort me, he looked almost oblivious to my crying. However, when the time was up, he finally noticed and sighed through his nose. “Stay there,” he said and once more he walked into the kitchen only to come out a second later with a couple of napkins, some of them wet. He held me still and cleaned my face with the wet napkins before drying me with the other ones. “Don’t want that bastard to see he made my best bro cry,” he said, smiling.</p><p>“Thanks,” I said softly. We walked out together. And as we made our way back to the hallway, I could feel my confidence and emotions slowly rise again as I moved with Chris. As long as we were together, nothing would break us. We would always protect each other. I truly believed that. Everything will be alright. We’ll find a way to get Lake his money, make him stop, or somehow get him to the police or principal without getting into trouble ourselves. It’ll be hard, but I won’t let Lake win. “I won’t let him win,” I said, looking up at Chris. “We’ll beat him.”</p><p>“That’s the spirit, Lee,” Chris grinned. He quickly squeezed my shoulder and I smiled as my heart shot up high, filling momentarily with love and happiness. We can do it! I have Chris supporting me just as I supported Chris. We turned the corner into the hallway and stopped.</p><p>My heart came crashing down, far, far down deeper than it ever felt before. The despair inside me exploded, swallowing everything as I stared at the sight before my eyes. “No,” I whispered. “No, it can’t be.” I felt my body failing. My stomach lurched and I fell to the ground, coughing and spitting as bile rose in my throat. I threw up right there, but nobody reacted. They were all standing in shock at the horrific scene before us. My eyes watered and I forced myself to look up, to face the unbelievable.</p><p>A body, clearly dead, laying on the floor.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I always wanted to do this. <br/>*ahem* A body has been discovered!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Deadly Lie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A Deadly Lie</p><p>No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can’t be.</p><p>But it was.</p><p>In front of us, smiling at nothing as his eyes only stared into the void was Lake’s dead body. I struggled to get to my feet. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it. There was blood around his head, but not as much as I thought there would be. Some pooled on the floor around his head while others stained his hair. He still looked alive if that made sense. His eyes looked the same, staring up, and his lips curled in a smile. The blood looked weird, watery almost, and his clothes were wet however there wasn’t a puddle or any source of water around the body.</p><p>I forced myself to look from Lake’s body to the lockers around. Our pictures have been stabbed through, clear rips almost tearing them in two. Taped on the lockers also were other pieces of paper. Words were written on them almost violently. “Liar!” “Sick-o!” “False!” “Asshole!” Insults and jeers aimed supposably at Lake surrounded us.</p><p>I was the first it seemed to recover from the shock. I looked around before taking a hesitant step towards the body. “He’s dead,” I said barely louder than a whisper.</p><p>“No shit,” Trent said, gawking at the body. He looked around at everyone, “The fuck happened?”</p><p>“How—how should we know?” Faine stuttered, her eyes never leaving the body. “Did he commit suicide?”</p><p>“Does this <em>look </em>like a suicide?” Trent said, “Someone killed him.” The words hanged heavy in the air. Trent said what everyone was thinking. Someone killed Lake. One of us killed Lake. I looked around with huge disbelief. No, it can’t be. I can’t be standing with a murderer, I can’t.</p><p>The air turned heavy. I found myself backing towards Chris as we all stared at each other with suspicion in our eyes. I swallowed, feeling a dark feeling grow inside me. One of the five people in front of me is a murderer. I swallowed heavily and felt my lips go dry. My eyes returned to the body and I could feel my legs failing again. I stumbled, but Chris caught me. He held onto me, holding me tightly to keep me from falling.</p><p>Cynthia made an annoyed noise and scoffed. “So? Now what?” she asked. “Can’t we just like leave?”</p><p>“You mean just leave Lake like this?” Faine demanded.</p><p>“Why not?” Cynthia shrugged. “The bastard was trying to blackmail us! He deserves this.”</p><p>“How can you be so coldhearted!” Faine scoffed. “Lake is dead! Dead! And one of us murdered him!”</p><p>“Then we’ll call the police and tell them it was Trent,” Cynthia said, waving her hand. “I mean, he is the type anyway.”</p><p>“What the fuck!? Fucking bullshit!” Trent yelled, stepping toward Cynthia, “I didn’t kill the bitch! I was in the nurse’s office all night!”</p><p>Cynthia laughed and looked around. “Look, it’s obvious what happened. Rivera already attacked Lake. So why wouldn’t he come back to finish what he started? He killed Lake and for some reason, he put all these stupid signs up and ripped our pictures!”</p><p>“Bullshit!” Trent snarled. “I was in the nurse’s office all night!”</p><p>“Well, can someone testify that? Hmm?” Cynthia demanded, putting her hands to her hips. “Didn’t think so. You people always the same, criminals to the end.”</p><p>“At least I don’t have to suck Daddy’s cock for money, Princess,” Trent yelled, “And I did not kill him!”</p><p>“I agree with Cynthia!” Jules pipped up. “I mean look at this!” he pointed at the signs. “Horrible handwriting and look! You misspelled ‘imposter’ and ‘blackmailer’ who else would make such a stupid mistake but you?”</p><p>“I didn’t do it!” Trent yelled. He looked at Chris and me, “Back me up!” he demanded. I hesitated. Could Trent have killed Lake? I couldn’t tell you. There was a panic in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell why exactly he was panicking. “Princess must have done it!” He said, “She probably didn’t want to cry to Daddy about the money even though she could easily pay all of our blackmail money!”</p><p>“Excuse me!” Cynthia gawked. “You did not just say that I murdered him!”</p><p>“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” Trent yelled. “You and your daddy are so self-centered and intolerably insufferable that you think you motherfuckers are better than anyone! So why waste daddy’s money on something good and just kill Lake instead?” Trent gave a fake gasp, “Oh wait, it must be because you don’t feel like giving daddy a blowjob.”</p><p>“You bastard!” Cynthia screamed. She ran towards Trent, her hands looking ready to punch and claw at him. Trent just smirked and raised his fists to punch back. Before they could collide, however, Lizzie jumped in between them and held onto Cynthia, pulling her away.</p><p>“Let’s all just stay calm here,” she said. “Come on Cynthia, he’s barely worth the time.” She pulled Cynthia as far back as she could before the other girl pushed her away, crossing her arms. “Just call the police and let them drag Trent away,” she said. “They take him and we can go home.”</p><p>“I don’t think it’ll be that simple,” I said, surprising even myself as I got their full attention. I blushed slightly and looked at them for a moment. “I mean, think about it,” I said. “They might blame Trent just because you said so, and he might be innocent, but still he will ask us about why we are all here, why we all broke into school at night. We all might not have killed Lake ourselves, but we can still be taken in for breaking and entering, or even worse for being associates to the murder.”</p><p>“So what?” Faine asked, “we just do nothing?”</p><p>I looked at Lake’s body and shook my head. Finding a strange strength inside me, I walked to the body and knelt down, touching his clothes. “Wet,” I muttered. I looked up at the people watching me. “We can’t run away from this,” I said. “Sooner or later, the police would find out and blame the first person they can get. I know that I and Chris are innocent, we were both in the cafeteria the whole time. The police are useless, so we have to take matters into our own hands.”</p><p>“What? You want to solve the murder like a damn game?” Trent scoffed.</p><p>“Do you want to go to jail!?” I yelled, my voice echoing in the hallway. “The police will bring us all to jail! They will pull our secrets out and we will have to face their consequences. However—if we solve who killed Lake now, get everything straight before we even call the police. Then only the murderer will be punished. The rest of us will be safe.”</p><p>“You are sure, Lee?” Lizzie asked. I looked at her and frowned.</p><p>“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But it’s better than waiting for the police.”</p><p>“There are a bunch of better things,” Cynthia said. “If we can’t blame Trent, we all can just leave.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah I like that idea better,” Faine nodded. “Let’s just leave.” The others all muttered agreements however I still had a horrible feeling in my stomach. Still, I followed them. Chris and I stuck to the back of the group as we left Lake’s body and traced our way down to the main doors. Cynthia reached the door and smirked, pulling at the handle only for it to not move. She frowned and tried again but the door kept rattling, locked shut. “The hell?” she demanded.</p><p>“Let’s try another door,” Faine said. “There’s an exit by the gym.”</p><p>We all nodded and hurried off, traveling somewhere between a walk and a jog towards the gym at the back of the school. It looked like any other school gym in the world and we almost ran across the length towards the set of doors only to find that they were locked too.</p><p>“Um, by the art room?” Jules suggested. We walked faster now, almost jogging at this point as the dread seemed to grow not only in me but by the whole group. From one side of the school to the other we traveled, only to once again encounter a locked door that would not budge for any of us.</p><p>“Motherfucker!” Trent cursed. “The fucker must have locked us in.”</p><p>“Maybe he left the keys in the school office or something?” Faine suggested, worry in her voice.</p><p>“Yeah!” Lizzie jumped, “there has to be a spare key there.”</p><p>So we ran, our footsteps thundering down the empty hallways as we went back to the main entrance where the office was. Jules was in first, pushing the door open for us. The office was the size of a classroom with a long counter in the front where teachers signed in, and four desks with phones and computers behind it. There were two doors to the right, one leading to the Principal’s office and the other leading towards a sort of closet that I wasn’t too sure about. Faine immediately went for one of the phones and picked it up, “It’s dead,” she said, looking at us. We all just gave a small sigh and separated, Lizzie and I searching the principal’s office.</p><p>We tore open everything, leaving no drawer unturned or left unchecked but in the end, we found nothing and walked silently, defeated, back to Lake’s body.</p><p>“Maybe… maybe Lake has it?” I suggested, looking at the others hopefully. They nodded but nobody moved. We just stood there, staring at his body.</p><p>“Well?” Cynthia said after a while, “Go touch it!”</p><p>“Huh?” I said once I realized she was talking to me.</p><p>“Go check the body Leon!” she demanded. “It was your idea.”</p><p>“O-Oh,” I said. “Yeah.” I nodded and took a breath. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered and took cautious steps towards Lake’s body. When I was close enough I knelt down once again to examine the body. His clothes were still damp, but there was no blood on it, and same as before there was no puddle around the body at all. I pressed my hands against his chest, awkwardly patting down and hoping to feel some odd bulge or sharp corners that would indicate a key or even a cellphone. I felt nothing. Just his clothes and body. I stuck my hands in his pockets only to pull out lint. Worry found its way back to me as I tried searching more thoroughly, pressing harder against the still-warm body, the back of my mind expecting or even hoping to feel a heartbeat or his breath but instead felt only nothing. I even moved down to check his shoes and socks, taking both off, only to see that nothing was in them. “There’s nothing,” I said. “Lake has nothing on him.”</p><p>“That can’t be right, what about his knife?” Chris asked.</p><p>“It’s not here—there’s nothing,” I looked back at the body and frowned, giving it one last look. He had no knife, no phone, or keys. Then I noticed it. “Hang on,” I said and pulled his hand up for examination. It was clean, a perfectly clean hand with nothing on it, and that was a problem. “He had rings,” I said. “Do you remember?” I said, looking at the others. “Lake—he wore rings! I remember he taunted us with them when he talked with us.”</p><p>“So? He probably just took them off wherever he was holding out,” Faine shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”</p><p>“That can’t be possible,” Chris said. “He was using the P.A. system; you can only do that in the office and we just checked that. There’s no rings, knives, keys, or anything. So he must have been holding onto all of that on him.”</p><p>“Then why aren’t they on him?” Cynthia demanded.</p><p>“Because the killer must have taken them,” I muttered.</p><p>“Then why couldn’t they just ‘find’ the key while we were looking in the office?” Cynthia asked again.</p><p>“I don’t know!”</p><p>“Because it would be suspicious,” Faine said, looking thoughtful. “We were all grouped together, it would be hard to just pull the keys out and pretend to find them.”</p><p>“Sounds good to me,” Lizzie nodded. “So now what?”</p><p>“We’re back at square one,” Chris said. “We figure out who killed Lake. They’ll know where the keys are and then we can leave.”</p><p>“This is ridiculous,” Cynthia scowled. “Look Trent just give us the fucking keys!”</p><p>“Fuck you, princess, I already told you I don’t got them,” Trent yelled loudly.</p><p>“Guys!” I said, shocking myself. “Trent didn’t kill Lake. At least, I don’t think he did.” I sighed and shook my head. “Okay, here is what we’ll do. I can vouch for Chris and me, we were in the cafeteria the whole hour. Faine, I’ll need a notebook and a pen. We’ll examine the body and the crime scene and then I’ll take testimony from each one of you.”</p><p>“Why should we even listen to you?” Jules asked, “Who put you in charge?”</p><p>“I am,” I said even more confidently. “Lake is dead, and we need to find out who killed him so we can get out of here. So everyone is going to shut up and accept this or just walk the hell away!” I shouted at the end. I heaved heavily; my cheeks flushed at the surge of emotions roaring through me. Chris grinned at me, and that only encouraged my confidence. Nobody left, they all just shuffled around awkwardly. “Okay then,” I said, nodding. “Until we find the killer I’m in charge. Faine, I need a notebook and a pen immediately. Trent, Chris, the two of you guard the scene, make sure nobody is playing with lockers or try to tamper with evidence. When we’re done here, we’ll go back to the room we all started in and I’ll start the interviews.”</p><p>I can do this. I have to do this. I took a breath and accepted the notebook and pen Faine gave me. One of us is a liar. One of us is a killer. We all have secrets to hide, and it is my job now to bring them to light. Though it might hurt, I will not lose! I won’t fall into Lake’s despair, I will survive!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Deadly Game</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A Deadly Game</p><p>Okay, first thing’s first, I have to examine the body. The thought ran through my mind as I knelt on the floor. I opened the notebook and turned to a clean page, writing down <em>Lake’s Body</em>. At the top. I took a breath and started my examination. Like before, I noticed that Lake’s clothes were damp, as though he was in the rain for a couple of minutes, but there was no puddle around him, and even still outside it has been dry as a bone the entire day and night. I triple checked his pockets to make sure that they were empty. He was missing his knife, as well as the key out of here. I wrote all of this down before moving up to the head. There was a small pool of watery blood that stained his hair. I mentally apologized as I reached for the head and slowly moved it around, trying to find the source of the blood.</p><p>At the back of his head was a large, deep gash, almost like someone drove a small ax into his head. Around it, there were also bruises and bumps like he was beaten. The gash still was bleeding, and the hair around it was stained and very wet. <em>Was someone washing it? </em>I wondered as I wrote my observations down. I looked around and saw small pearls of wet blood leading away from the body. I kept low and followed the small pearls of blood. It led away from the scene and down the hall, right to the girl’s bathroom. I stood up fully and looked over my shoulder to see the others following. “There’s blood that leads into here,” I said and began opening the door.</p><p>“Gross!” Cynthia said, “You’re seriously going in there? Just because you’re a bottom doesn’t mean you can go in the girls’ bathroom, you perv!”</p><p>I stopped and turned to face Cynthia, my face falling. “You—are you serious?” I asked. She just glared back, and I sighed, “Fine then. Lizzie, come in with me.”</p><p>“Okie-Dokie!” Lizzie said and I opened the girl’s bathroom, Lizzie following. “So what are we looking for, captain?” she asked.</p><p>“Anything unusual,” I said and stopped to look around. The walls were pink with white tiles. There were five sinks against one another all on one large counter and seven stalls. The sinks were dry except for one, where the facet kept dripping. “Careful,” I said to Lizzie as we went towards the sink. I bent down and examined the floor under the sink. It looked as though it was wiped clean from paper towers, streaks of water, and something red circled around the area. “Is that blood?” I asked.</p><p>Lizzie bent down with me and stared at it. “Maybe, have you tried sniffing it?” she grinned.</p><p>“What—no! Why would I smell blood?” I asked.</p><p>“I don’t know, to see how it smells?” Lizzie said. “Go on!” She grinned and slapped my back. I grumbled and looked for the biggest spot of red. That the killer thankfully missed. I leaned as close as I could, carefully getting on my hands and knees, and closed my eyes as I inhaled deeply. There was a coppery smell but also… tomatoes?</p><p>“Lizzie?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Does blood usually smell like tomatoes?” I asked.</p><p>“I don’t think so,” Lizzie shrugged. I looked up at her and noticed that her forehead and hair were really shiny in the light. I got up and stared even more obviously at her wet hair and forehead. Is she sick? Lizzie saw me staring and gave me a weird look, “Do you see something you like?” she asked, “Or do I have a massive zit on my face?”</p><p>“No just, are you okay?” I asked. “You’re a bit sweaty. Are you sick or something?”</p><p>“Huh?” Lizzie pressed her hand to her forehead, feeling the dampness. “No I’m not sick, and I don’t feel sweaty, maybe I sweat a little bit during our lap around the school?” She went to the paper towels and pulled one out of the dispenser to dab her forehead. “You really worried me,” she smiled, “I thought I had a giant zit on my face that nobody was talking about.”</p><p>“N-No,” I said. I looked back at the sink and frowned, I leaned forward and smelt inside, smelling more copper and tomatoes. There were even more flecks of red that could be either. “Why does this sink smell of blood and tomatoes?” I wondered. “Why are there even tomatoes in here?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Lizzie said as she balled up her paper towel and threw it into the garbage. I got an idea to just check it and walked over to the trash can. I made a noise as I looked inside. There were many red-stained paper towels in the garbage as well as a large industrial steel can of tomato sauce which was somehow ripped over so that there was a large, jagged part pointing out that was still dripping something red, blood or tomatoes I couldn’t tell. “Lizzie! Look!” I yelled out. She bounced to me and looked in. “Gross,” she said, “I think we found where the tomatoes are coming from.”</p><p>“And the murder weapon,” I said, quickly writing it all down. “But how can someone get this from the kitchen?” I asked, “Chris and I were in the cafeteria all day.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Lizzie shrugged.</p><p>I sighed and finished writing my notes. “I think I got everything I need from here, let’s go back to the others.”</p><p>“Aye-aye Captain!” Lizzie said. She gave a mock salute, and we left the bathroom to find everyone waiting for us.</p><p>“So? What did you find?” Cynthia demanded.</p><p>“There was blood around a sink, I think the killer tried to clean up the mess they made. There was also a broken can in the garbage along with a lot of stained paper towels,” I said. I looked around the hallway and went back to notice the new signs hanging on the wall. “I’m just going to copy these down and take them,” I muttered, already writing in my notebook. <em>Liar. Fraud. Cheat. Hack. </em>The misspelled Imposter and blackmailer, and lastly a misspelled prevaricator spelled <em>prevarcater. </em>I did not know what that word meant and asked the others. Trent answered immediately, “It’s another word for liar.”</p><p>“Okay,” I nodded and took them with me. “Now, everyone go to your lockers and take both letters. We’re going back to the classroom,” I ordered. “Chris, you and Trent stay in the back to make sure no one runs away.”</p><p>Cynthia scoffed at this but did as was told. Everyone went to their lockers and we all got both letters before returning to the classroom. I stay by the blackboard, standing while everyone else sat down. I looked around and thought for a moment before sighing. “Okay, so from what we know, Lake has been killed by a broken tomato can. So, I think now it would be best to hear what exactly everyone was up to during the hour. We’ll talk one at a time, with just you, me, and Chris. Everyone else will be outside to prevent any influence, sounds good?”</p><p>“I guess,” Chris shrugged.</p><p>“Wait we’re supposed to tell you our secrets?” Trent demanded. “Why the fuck would we do that?”</p><p>“Because I’m about to tell you my secret,” I said, taking out the letter. “I’m called the Lying Nobody. I repeatedly snuck into the teacher’s desks and offices to steal test answers.”</p><p>“No!” Trent said, giving a low whistle, “That’s pretty sweet, dude.”</p><p>“No, it’s not! That’s cheating!” Faine yelled. “You should be ashamed of yourself Lee!”</p><p>“I’m not ashamed,” I said, “But I needed to do this so I could pass! They were going to fail me otherwise.”</p><p>Faine just glared at me but stayed quiet. “Anyway, that’s why I’m here,” I continued. “I spent the entire hour with Chris in the cafeteria where we only saw Faine for two minutes at most.” I looked at Chris, who nodded. “Chris, I want you in here, can you go next?” I asked.</p><p>Chris looked around awkwardly. “Are you sure?” he asked, and I nodded.</p><p>“None of them will tell your dad and coach, right?” I added, looking at them.</p><p>They just nodded, looking quizzically at Chris who took a deep breath. “I’m gay,” he said. “That’s my big secret. I’m gay and I’m scared shitless of if my dad or coach finds out. Hell, let’s not even talk about my teammates.”</p><p>“Wait, he’s blackmailing you for being gay?” Jules asked, “That’s it?” Chris nodded and Jules made a face, “Gross, the fuck is wrong with him?”</p><p>“Besides him being an insane homicidal maniac who is thankfully dead?” Faine drawled.</p><p>“Guys let’s stay focused,” I said, looking at them. “You guys know our secrets and where we’ve been so now I’m going to ask everyone one by one to just tell me everything. Lizzie, can we start with you?”</p><p>“Sure, I don’t mind,” Lizzie shrugged. She stayed sitting while everyone else left. Chris moved to stand by the door while I took the teacher’s seat and wheeled it towards the desks, laying out everything and opening my notebook. I wrote Lizzie’s name down and looked up at the girl. “So Lizzie,” I began awkwardly, “Why are you here?”</p><p>“Because I love stealing things,” she said easily, smiling at me. “Lake gave me this cool title called the Criminal Bestie! I love it a lot but I don’t think it is really accurate because I never really been in jail yet, or juvie.”</p><p>“Wait, hold on, you steal things?” I asked.</p><p>“Yeah! I steal anything I see and want really; I can’t help it. Watches, cellphones, rings, bracelets, notebooks, things that I can really get some good money for. Oh! One time I stole Cynthia’s brush and sold it for like five hundred dollars! But it’s okay because I brought her a new brush that only cost two hundred and she did not even notice,” Lizzie grinned.</p><p>“There’s a word for that,” Chris said, “Kleptomania. You’re basically admitting to being a Kleptomaniac, Liz.”</p><p>“So I am!” Lizzie grinned, “But really where is the harm of it? I use the money I get to buy stuff for my friends so it’s not all bad, maybe leaning towards it but if you look at it from my perspective things really mellow out.”</p><p>“Anyway,” I said writing down Lizzie’s secret. “Where were you during the hour?”</p><p>“Let’s see,” Lizzie said, leaning back. “I was alone for a while, really, just wandering the halls and looking for shiny things people might have forgotten. I was texting my friend Chloe before I came here and she kept bugging out about leaving a couple of bracelets in her locker so I wanted to see if I could help her.”</p><p>“Were they expensive bracelets?” Chris asked.</p><p>“Not really, they were those weird plastic kind that are more sentimental than expensive,” Lizzie said. “I don’t get those at all, I like something that shines. Anyway, I went to Chloe’s locker to see that it was locked. Then I went back downstairs where I ran into Faine who found brownies. We ate a couple, went out separate ways and I went back to wandering around until the hour was up and we all found Lake dead on the ground.”</p><p>“What time did you and Faine meet up? Do you remember?” I asked.</p><p>“Hmm, that’s a hard question,” Lizzie said. “I would say maybe twenty-five minutes-ish into the hour? I guess.” She shrugged.</p><p>“That’s good enough,” I said, writing it down. I looked at my notes and repeated, “So you were wandering around by yourself besides the time that you and Faine ate brownies together.”</p><p>“Yup!”</p><p>“How long did that take?”</p><p>“Five minutes,” Lizzie said. “I know because I timed Faine eating brownies before and she always takes five minutes to eat them.”</p><p>“How long does it take you to eat them?” Chris asked.</p><p>“Oh I just shove the whole thing in my mouth,” Lizzie said, “the best way to get the flavor!”</p><p>“Okay. That’s everything I need, thank you, Lizzie,” I said. I stood up and Lizzie followed. We walked outside to where the others were waiting. “Jules,” I said, my eyes landing on him first. “Come on.”</p><p>Jules kicked off of the wall he was leaning on and followed Chris and me inside. Chris closed the door as I went to my seat and Jules sat across from me. I wrote down his name on a new page and looked up at him. “So,” I began, “what did Lake call you?”</p><p>“The Pervert Artist,” Jules muttered, “which is bullshit.”</p><p>“You’re here because you draw porn? Don’t like every teenager do that at some point?” Chris asked.</p><p>“It is not porn! It is art!” Jules yelled. “And no, it is more than that!” He stood up and went to the desk he was at when we arrived, pulling out an artbook. He returned to sit across from me and placed it down. He opened it up and Chris walked towards us to look over my shoulder. I flipped through the book, seeing picture after picture of highly detailed girls and women in sexual poses and various degrees of undressing. My stomach lurched a little and I stopped when I recognized a face, “Wait! I know her, she’s in my Math class.”</p><p>“And wait, the girl before, she’s in my gym class,” Chris said. “Jules the hell is this?”</p><p>“Everyone is a model,” Jules said. “When you look around, you see that we are just surrounded by the hottest of hot girls! And even if they’re only okay looking, they can be fixed through drawing. They walk around unknowing of their looks, so I have to draw it! Immortalize their sexiness, even if I have no real chance with them. So why not draw them doing sexy things? Even with each other! You guys get it, right? The male urge to just ogle sexy women!”</p><p>Chris and I just stare at each other for a moment and, simultaneously, we said, “No, we’re gay.”</p><p>“Oh,” Jules blinked. “Right.”</p><p>I closed his porn book and regrettably wrote down details about it. “Anyway,” I said, “what were you doing during the hour?”</p><p>“I was here,” Jules shrugged. “I was finishing my latest art piece—”</p><p>“Porn.”</p><p>“IT IS NOT PORN!” Jules yelled, “You are just an uncultured slob who cannot appreciate the skill and talent it takes to make these beautiful drawings!” He slammed his hand on the book. Chris opened his mouth to argue further but I stopped him. I opened the book once more and flipped to the last picture, “This one, right?” I asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Jules said, and I looked at it. Recognizing it from the drawing Jules was making when we arrived, I saw that it was furthered detailed and worked on than before. I wrote this down and smiled at Jules, “Thank you, Jules, that is all.”</p><p>Jules nodded and left, taking his porn book with him. I sighed and looked at Chris, grimacing. “This is going to be harder than I thought,” I said. “Three more.” I glanced at the three and turned to Chris, “I can take care of them. I need you to go and confirm something for me.”</p><p>“What is it?” Chris asked.</p><p>“I need you to go to the kitchen and see if any cans are missing.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Deadly Secret</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A Deadly Secret</p><p>I decided to question Cynthia next. I let her in after Chris left for the kitchen. Cynthia just sat down in front of me and crossed her arms glaring at me. “Well?” she demanded. “What do you want? I didn’t kill Lake, Trent did.”</p><p>“I’m not sure yet,” I answered honestly. “First I want to know what Lake was blackmailing you for.”</p><p>Cynthia froze for a moment before scoffing. “As if I’ll tell you. You don’t need to know that; I did not kill him.”</p><p>I frowned. “The longer you keep this up, the more suspicious you look,” I said, doing my best to sound calm. “Cynthia, come on. We both want to catch the killer, but I need to know your secret. I promise that I won’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“I’m not telling you,” Cynthia said. “Why do you even need to see it?”</p><p>“I just told you—look, you can give it to me willingly or I’ll get Faine and Lizzie to hold you down so I can take it,” I warned.</p><p>“Do it and I’ll tell everyone you’re a dirty perv,” Cynthia said, smirking victoriously at me. I stared at her and she stared back, her victorious smile never leaving as she called my bluff. I stood up and walked to the door, opening it. “Faine, Lizzie, over here,” I said. The two girls looked up surprised and followed me inside the classroom. “Is Cynthia done already?” Faine asked.</p><p>“No, we haven’t really started,” I said, “but she refuses to give me her letters. Can you girls help me out?”</p><p>“Of course!” Lizzie grinned, winking at me. “You and Faine hold her down.”</p><p>“What—no don’t you even think of touching me!” Cynthia screamed, but it was no use. I held one arm while Faine took the other. Lizzie was upon her immediately, and as Cynthia buckled and fought against us, Lizzie pulled out her two letters, as well as something else.</p><p>A cellphone.</p><p>Faine and I gasped, letting go of Cynthia. “Is that?”</p><p>“No, it is mine! And I want it back,” Cynthia snarled. “You have no right to hold my property, you loose bimbo!”</p><p>“Why do you have a cellphone?” Faine demanded. “We were told not to bring one!”</p><p>“Yeah, as if I would actually listen to that,” Cynthia scoffed as she crossed her arms.</p><p>“You could have called the police!” Faine yelled. “We all could be home by now!”</p><p>“Why? It’s still better to just leave the body for the janitors to find it,” Cynthia shrugged, “They’ll see that Trent killed him.”</p><p>“Enough,” I said. “Lizzie, Faine, thank you.” I took both the cellphone and letters from Lizzie and returned to my seat. I quickly checked the cellphone to see a picture of Cynthia wearing a loud and expensive outfit.</p><p>“Don’t look through my phone, you thief!” Cynthia said. I just glanced at her and shook my head.</p><p>“Then let’s get this over with and I’ll give it back to you,” I said, opening her letters. I held them with one hand as I wrote with the other as I read aloud, glancing between the letter and my notebook. “’<em>Cynthia Maria Gosenburg, the Poor Heiress. Oh, how it must rule to be you. The Queen of the hallways, strutting around with the most expensive clothing and jewelry a teenage girl can get, and how you love to show off! Why, everyone must think that you are rich, and how right they are, if this was last year! How did that investment go? With your father and his people being caught in an orgy with underaged girls and boys (and I heard you were there too you naughty vixen!). What will people think when they hear that your father spent your family’s fortune to get you and him out of trouble?’</em>” I stared at the letter, feeling sick. I looked up at Cynthia. She was crying openly. I never saw her look so vulnerable, so open and small. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.</p><p>Cynthia shook her head. “You don’t understand… my dad brought me there… I thought that it was going to be a dinner, something we always do, but…”</p><p>“You don’t need to continue,” I said, my stomach twisting. “But how did Lake find out?”</p><p>“I told him,” Cynthia said simply. “He promised to keep my secret and I bottled it up for so long that, I just told him. The fucking bastard.” She spat out the last second, any sadness quickly being replaced by anger. I gave her back her letters after writing down the important information, keeping what happened to her out of it.</p><p>“Where were you during the hour?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice even.</p><p>Cynthia glanced at her phone and shook her head. “I was in the gym, talking with my dad,” she began. “It’s the best place to get service and be alone. We were talking about how to get Lake his money.”</p><p>“How much did he ask for?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.</p><p>“Five thousand,” Cynthia answered. “Every month.”</p><p>I nodded and frowned, “He wanted two hundred from me and Chris every month,” I said.</p><p>“Well lucky me for getting the bigger threat,” Cynthia muttered. “The talk with my dad lasted half an hour or so. Afterwards, I wanted to cry and fix my makeup, so I went to the bathroom near where we found Lake’s body. It wasn’t there by now obviously, but the bathroom was locked so I had to go upstairs.”</p><p>“Wait,” I said, “it was locked?”</p><p>“Yeah, like I said,” Cynthia said. “It was locked so I had to go upstairs.”</p><p>I quickly wrote that down and frowned, “Do you know who was in it?” I asked.</p><p>“No, but I shouted. ‘Open the damn door!’ or something like that,” Cynthia shrugged. I nodded and frowned as I wrote that down, remembering something that happened during my own hour. I made a note of that.</p><p>“Did you see anyone else during the hour?” I asked. “Anyone at all?”</p><p>Cynthia thought for a moment, “I saw Trent leaving the nurse’s office looking pissed off. But I don’t think he saw me.”</p><p>“I see, thank you,” I said, nodding. “And Cynthia, I’m sorry about—”</p><p>“Just shut up and give me my phone, Leon,” Cynthia sighed. I obliged after checking her phone, wanting to confirm that she did make the call, giving her everything. I walked out with Cynthia and looked around. “Faine, you’re next. Trent, I’m gonna get your testimony last.”</p><p>“Whatever,” Trent muttered.</p><p>Faine followed me into the room and I sat down and prepared for our interrogation. “Let’s get the letters out of the way,” I said. “Why are you being blackmailed?”</p><p>“For having my beliefs,” Faine scoffed. She tossed her letters freely to me and said, “He dares to call me a disgusting slur!” I stared at her curiously as I took the letter and opened it and just read what Lake called her out loud. “The TERF Activist?” I said, looking at her in both shock and disgust.</p><p>“I am a Radical Feminist!” Faine said. “I am fighting for real women’s rights.” I just stared at her in disgust and shook my head.</p><p>“I don’t want to hear your wrong thoughts, Faine,” I said. “Just tell me what you were doing during the hour.”</p><p>“MY wrong thoughts? Leon! Do you know what damage those people do? Not only to women in our safe spaces but to the LGBplus community?” Faine demanded.</p><p>“No and I don’t care, now tell me where you were doing the hour,” I demanded again.</p><p>Faine stared at me, mouth hanging open and I just stared back, tapping my pen against the notebook. She scoffed and said, “Fine. Ignore those dangerous maniacs.”</p><p>She fixed herself in her seat and cleared his throat as she folded her hands on the desk. We were both silent for a moment as I waited for Faine to start. She just glared at me and shifted the strap of her bag. “I was wandering around for a while before needing to use the bathroom. Cynthia was crying or something in the bathroom, so I had to go somewhere else. Then I went to the cafeteria where I saw you and Chris. I went into the kitchen and took some brownies, gave one to you and Chris each, then left. I ate the brownies as I wandered around for the rest of the hour.”</p><p>“That’s it?” I asked. “You saw no one else between when you left the cafeteria and discovering Lake’s body?”</p><p>“No,” Faine said easily. “I was just by myself.” I just nodded and wrote that down before looking up at her again. “And you tried to use the bathroom and ran into Cynthia during the first half-hour?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Where?”</p><p>“Funny enough, it was the bathroom where you found the broken tomato can,” Faine said. I looked up at her for a second and nodded, writing that down as well. Something didn’t make sense in my mind; however, I did not want to let Faine know that. I wanted to stay calm and not influence or agitate the others. However, it was hard at times. I took a breath and looked over my notes. “And this is it?” I asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Faine nodded. “Are we done?”</p><p>I frowned, looking down on my notes, quickly going over them. “One more question,” I said. “When I asked Lizzie, she said that she shared a brownie with you, can you explain?”</p><p>“She did? Oh right!” Faine said, “I did run into her, but we just ate a brownie together and talked for a while before leaving.”</p><p>“Okay, thank you,” I said and wrote that down. I was honestly relieved to have her leave, and as Trent and I walked back, I could feel as though what happened was becoming clear in my mind, however, I just needed one more thing to be confirmed.</p><p>I sat down with Trent and talked with him honestly. “I really don’t think that you killed him,” I started. “However I need to still know where you were during the hour and what your secret is.”</p><p>Trent just glared at me and shrugged, “Fine, whatever,” he said. “Don’t you fuckin’ tell anyone, you hear? I’m good at poetry, really good. Some of my poems were published anonymously in the school’s paper.”</p><p>“You… write poetry? Really?” I asked.</p><p>“Yeah, I do!” Trent yelled, “You have something to say about that, Sullen?”</p><p>“N-No!” I flushed. “It’s just you don’t seem the type,” I flustered over my words as my cheeks grew red. I cleared my throat and looked at Trent. “So what does Lake want you to do for him?” I asked.</p><p>“Mainly just do his English work and beat some punks up for him,” Trent said, scowling at the thought of Lake. “Like I would beat people up for him! I swear if he wasn’t dead I would kick his ass so bad he’ll wish he was dead.” He let out a growl and slammed his fist on the desk, making me jump. “Sorry,” he spat out. “I got anger issues if it wasn’t obvious. The poetry and shit helps me with them.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” I said, nodding. “And is that what you were doing? Writing?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Trent said. “Went to the nurse’s office first after that insane fucker sliced me up. Took me a while to bandage it and after that, I went to Mrs. Rona’s classroom. I was writing this.” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and spread it out on the desk. It was a poem with very colorful language with many words crossed out or scribbled over before the line was being written again. I nodded and said, “Thanks.”</p><p>He put the poem away and stood up, leaning against the desk, “I shouldn’t even need to say it,” he said, glaring at me, “but if you even say a word about this to anyone, I will fuck you up Lee.”</p><p>“N-No worries, I’ll keep it to myself,” I said. Trent glared at me and I felt fearful for a moment before the door slammed open and Chris ran in.</p><p>“The fuck are you doing?” he demanded and quickly ran to us, pushing me away so that he was between Trent and I. “Lee, are you okay?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” I said, my cheeks blushing pink. Chris kept facing Trent as the other boy just smirked and stood up, throwing his hands up.</p><p>“Relax, big boy, I didn’t do anything to Sullen, we were just talking,” he said. “Right?”</p><p>“Yeah, we were just talking,” I said, “Trent, can you ask everyone to come in when I’m ready?”</p><p>“Whatever,” Trent shrugged. He gave Chris a smug look and walked away, closing the door behind him. Chris’s shoulders sagged and he turned to me.</p><p>“Are you sure you’re okay, Lee?” he asked.</p><p>I stood up and smiled, “I told you, I’m fine,” I said. “What about you? What did you find?”</p><p>“Oh!” Chris said. He glanced at the closed door then back at me. “Several cans were missing from the kitchen.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Deadly Trial</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A Deadly Trial</p><p>I sat back down with a long sigh and looked over my notes. Reading them again, I realized with a grim shock that I have not been as thorough as I would have liked, however, what I could see before me was nothing more than an accident. “Chris, if you killed Lake, why would you have used one of those industrial cans?” I asked. “My mom always complains that they’re a bitch to open and can survive even a truck hitting them.”</p><p>“I mean if you look at it like that, it is strange,” Chris said thoughtfully. “If I wanted to kill him, I would use something more certain. Hit a guy over the head and the best you can do is knock him out.”</p><p>“Yeah, that was what I was afraid of,” I sighed. I looked up to Chris with a sorrowful, pitiful face. “Chris, I’m afraid of what happened. It wasn’t a murder, but an accident. A terrible accident.”</p><p>Chris still looked confused but hugged me. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “Knight Christopher is here to help.”</p><p>“Thank you,” I said, keeping my head down so he couldn’t see my blushing face. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”</p><p>I opened the door and nodded to Trent. Slowly, everyone walked in one by one and silently took their seats. Chris took the teacher’s seat and moved it to the door. He closed the door and placed the seat in front of it, guarding the exit as he crossed his arms, glaring at the five suspects in front of us. I paced the front of the classroom, glancing at them as I tried to figure out how to start. The pieces all fit the more I thought about it, and a heavy sense of dread filled my stomach. I stopped and addressed everyone.</p><p>“There was one question that I could not answer from your testimonies,” I said. “Why the cans? Why use industrial cans to kill when it is very unlikely that they will even split open? This question nagged at me since the beginning, and I hoped by listening to you guys, the answer would come. I’m not a pro, obviously. There are questions that I should have asked you guys but never did, however even with my limited questions, I can safely say that I know where everyone was, and how Lake’s death happened.”</p><p>“It was Trent, right?” Cynthia interrupted. “I knew it was him!”</p><p>“Will you shut up about me, princess,” Trent groaned. “Let him talk.”</p><p>I shook my head. “Trent did not kill Lake; it is impossible for him to do so.”</p><p>“Well, then who?” Cynthia demanded.</p><p>“I’m getting there,” I said. “I was with Chris for the entire hour. We were in the cafeteria, alone, except for one person. Faine. You came in twenty minutes to get brownies. After which, you left and shared with Lizzie who you found wandering the hallways. Cynthia, you were in the gym talking with your dad for half an hour before going to the second-floor bathroom to fix your makeup. You had to use the second-floor bathroom, because the first-floor bathroom, where I found the can and blood, was locked. Trent, you were at the nurse’s office for half an hour before going off to Mrs. Rona’s class to calm down, and lastly, Jules was here, alone, drawing pornographic drawings he calls art. That is where all of us were during the hour.”</p><p>“Hold on, how did Cynthia talk with her dad?” Faine interrupted.</p><p>“She brought in a cellphone against Lake’s instruction, but that is not important now,” I said.</p><p>“Um yeah, it is! We could have called the police!” Faine argued.</p><p>I shook my head at that, “No, we couldn’t have, because we all would get in trouble if the police were involved if everything wasn’t let out. They would have deemed us all murderers, which we are not. A murder did not happen. It was all an accident.”</p><p>“What do you mean by that, Sullen?” Trent demanded.</p><p>“In order for you to understand, I need to go over on how I think Lake was killed. This all ties to my first question: Why the cans? If you really wanted to kill Lake, you would have used his knife or anything else. Cans are too risky, there was no way you would have known that the can would break as it did. Which leads me to think that this was all an accident. The killer did not want to kill Lake but knock him out. So in order to do that, they would need something heavy yet easily hidden. The cans used in the cafeteria was a perfect weapon in that regard. Lake did not just have the deep cut, but bruises around it as well as bumps, bumps that would have come from a weapon meant to knock him out. The murderer needed to go into the kitchen, get the cans, and then come back to find and knock out Lake. However there was a problem, mainly, Chris and I were there in the cafeteria. We would have witnessed the murderer coming in and leaving with the cans. They would have to deal with us, in a friendly manner of course, and leave the kitchen and cafeteria with two things: the cans safely hidden and a snack to openly show. With us as an alibi, it would be simple to knock Lake out and do whatever you were planning. However, there was a snag, an unfortunate accident. When you hit Lake, a can burst open and the side cut deeply into his head.</p><p>“You were scared. Lake was bleeding out and this was not the plan. So, out of fear of saving him or fear of covering up, you brought Lake to the girls’ bathroom, it was the closest one after all and locked the door for privacy. You threw the can out and then did your best to clean his wound in the sink. That would explain how his clothes were wet without a puddle, and why the blood around him looked too watery. However, it was too late. Lake was dying, unconscious hopefully, but still, you couldn’t stop him from bleeding out. You must have realized that in some point. You couldn’t save Lake, the best you could do was save yourself. So you did your best to clean up the body, and maybe yourself as well, who knows maybe some blood got in your hair and needed to wash it out, and you brought Lake back out into the hallway. From there, it was a simple manner of putting up signs, making it look as though someone else killed him, maybe Trent since he’s known to be a bad boy. You even misspelled words to put more suspicion on Trent, never knowing that he is actually a really good speller. And with the crime scene complete, you left, maybe did a lap around the school, before joining the rest of us. Isn’t that right, Faine?”</p><p>As though this was a courtroom drama, everyone turned to stare at Faine. She gasped and slammed her hands on the table. “Excuse me!? Leon Sullen what are you even saying?” she yelled.</p><p>“I am saying that you killed Lake!” I yelled back. “It’s the only thing that makes sense!”</p><p>“Objection! No, it does not,” Faine scoffed. “You’re just pinning this on me because I’m a real feminist!”</p><p>“Bullshit this has nothing to do with that!” I yelled back; you are the only one who could have done it! You were the only one who could have gotten the cans!”</p><p>“So? Just because you guys only saw me doesn’t mean that anyone else could have snuck by you guys,” Faine argued. “Ever thought about that?”</p><p>“I did,” I nodded. “But then I remembered what you said, both back then and in your testimony. When we look at these two pieces of evidence, it becomes clear that it was you.”</p><p>“Fine, bring it,” Faine scoffed. “What did I say that is so important?”</p><p>“First, that Cynthia was crying in the bathroom,” I said. “That does not make sense because I know for a fact that during the first half-hour, she was in the gymnasium talking with her father on her cellphone, after which she left and saw Trent exiting the Nurse’s office. It was then, during the second half of the hour, not the first half like you claimed, that she tried to use the bathroom only to find it locked. She was left to use the bathroom upstairs.”</p><p>“Oh so? How does that convict me? It doesn’t, moron,” Faine sneered.</p><p>“Not alone, but it does damages your credibility,” I said. “But the second fact proves your guilt, for you mentioned something during your testimony, something that only the killer and I knew.”</p><p>“And what is that, Mr. Lawyer?” Faine demanded.</p><p>I smirked and crossed my arms, “Jules, what type of can did I say was in the trashcan?”</p><p>Jules jumped and looked around. “Uh, I don’t know,” he said hesitantly, glancing at Faine who glared at him angrily. “You—you didn’t.”</p><p>“That’s right, I didn’t,” I said. “Do you see the problem now, Faine?”</p><p>“No I do not, I just see you throwing wild accusations,” Faine said.</p><p>“In the trashcan, I found a tomato can. The bathroom had a tomato smell everywhere near the sink where Lake died, and in the garbage was the murder weapon: a broken tomato can. It was you, Faine, who mentioned the can specifically as a tomato can! How can you possibly know if not by being the murderer herself?”</p><p>“I was in the kitchen! I could have seen the cans and make a lucky guess,” Faine argued. “I want hard, irrefutable facts, Leon Sullen! Not this stupid shit you’re just spewing.”</p><p>“I can answer that,” Chris said, “the cans were all in a pantry. I snooped around when I first went in looking for food for Chris and me. The cans were all in a closed pantry, which I closed when I was done looking through them. Lee sent me to go check on them, and I found that several tomato cans were taken, and the pantry left open.”</p><p>“That seems like proof enough for me,” I smirked.</p><p>“No, it is not!” Faine yelled. “Where are the other cans? You guys cannot be serious about this crap! This is total harassment and when the police get here I will make sure that each and every one of you gets in trouble for watching these two faggots harass me!”</p><p>“Woah! What’s with the language, miss perfect?” Trent said with a smirk playing his lips.</p><p>“Oh shut up,” Faine yelled, giving Trent the middle finger. “You still haven’t answered my question! Where are the cans?”</p><p>“In your bag, naturally,” I said. “You cannot dare to dispose of them in the school, so you’re hiding them in your bag.”</p><p>Faine laughed. “As if!”</p><p>“Then open your bag right now,” I said calmly. “Prove to us that it’s not in there.”</p><p>“There’s no way you’re getting my bag,” Faine yelled, only for Trent to jump up to try and snatch it. Faine swung her bag and accidentally let go. Instead of going for Trent, it flew towards me and I barely jumped out of the way for the bag to smash into the wall with a metallic clanging. We all froze at the sound. I stared at the bag before looking at Faine, who stood like a deer caught in headlights. I grabbed the bag and lift it up, feeling it to be way heavier than expected. My hand was shaking as I opened it and a cold smile appeared as I saw what was inside. “Faine, explain how these got in here,” I said, and pulled out three industrial tomato cans. There was also a notebook with pages torn out of it and a wet comb.</p><p>Faine seemed to snap out of her daze and tried to make a run for it, only for Trent and Cynthia to pull her back down, Chris jumping to help hold her down with Trent. She struggled for a moment before deflating with a heavy sigh, her fight leaving her. “It was an accident,” she muttered, tears forming in her eyes. “We didn’t mean to kill him.”</p><p>“Wait, we?” Chris asked.</p><p>“Of course, we,” I nodded, turning the bag upside down and shaking out the contents. There was no knife, cellphone, keys, or any of Lake’s rings. “Lake would be too heavy for just Faine to carry, so she must of have an accomplish.”</p><p>“Well? Who is it?” Trent demanded.</p><p>“Cynthia, do you have Lake’s number in your phone?” I asked, shifting my eyes between her and Lizzie, who continued to sit rather aloofly in her chair.</p><p>“I do,” Cynthia nodded.</p><p>“Call it.”</p><p>Cynthia pulled out her phone and a moment later we heard a loud tone from her phone as she called Lake’s phone. There was a silent pause that seemed to last forever for us. My eyes never left Lizzie who continued to sit calmly, even as a loud song started to blare from her pockets. She just giggled and pulled out a cellphone, answering it, “Hello, Lizzie Holiday speaking.” She grinned cheekily at us as Cynthia gasped.</p><p>Trent immediately went to grab Lizzie, but she just held her hands up, “Don’t worry about me, I got no want or reason to fight like Faine.”</p><p>“Why?” I asked. “Why did you help Faine?”</p><p>“It seemed like a good idea,” she said, shrugging. “We just wanted to knock him out and demanded to be released. Then Faine’s can break and now we’re here.”</p><p>“But why steal his things? You could have just left them on him and we all could have walked away,” I said.</p><p>Lizzie just continued to grin at me and winked, “You know why Leon, I’m the Criminal Bestie! I couldn’t resist taking a few of his things.” She pulled out a set of keys from her pocket and jingled it for emphasis. “But now you caught us, good job.”</p><p>“The fuck do you mean ‘good job?’” Faine demanded. “This isn’t a game you idiot! We can go to jail! For murder! Just think what that will do for my activist career!”</p><p>“As if anyone wants to be supported by a TERF like you,” Trent shrugged. Lizzie laughed and looked at Faine, “Wow that was your secret? Gross!”</p><p>Jules stood up and looked around at us awkwardly, “Um what now?” he asked hesitantly.</p><p>“There’s a spare rope in the gym,” Cynthia suggested. “Tie them up and leave them with the body.”</p><p>“I have a better idea,” I said. I sent Cynthia to get the rope while the rest of us kept watch over Faine and Lizzie. Faine was quiet during the whole thing, while Lizzie just smiled along as though she was having fun. She pulled out Lake’s rings and knife and I collected them along with his phone and keys. Cynthia returned and we tied their hands behind their backs.</p><p>Trent and Chris escorted them as I led the way to the front door, keys in hand. When we reach them. I fumbled a little, my heart pounding as I tried the keys one by one until finally one slipped in, and the lock turned with a very audible click. I pushed the door open, and the night breeze welcomed us. We all stepped out and just stood for a moment as we enjoyed the freedom. Chris and I agreed to stay with Faine and Lizzie until the cops arrive.</p><p>Cynthia wasted no time in leaving. “I hope to never see or speak with any of you guys again,” she said walking off. Trent followed her without even saying goodbye while Jules hesitated.</p><p>“Um, it’s not porn,” was all he could mutter before walking away as well.</p><p>The four of us sat on the sidewalk, waiting. Chris was next to me and smiled. “You know, for everything he did, I’m kind of happy that we went through tonight,” he said. “It’s fucked up but, I feel stronger because of it, more confident.”</p><p>“You do?” I asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Chris nodded. “In fact, I still have a secret, one that even Lake never found it.” He gave me a teasing grin and shuffled closer to me so that our knees were touching. I blushed at that but found that I couldn’t look away from Chris’s smiling face.</p><p>“What, what is it?” I asked, feeling my heart pounding against my chest. Chris leaned forward and answered by pressing his lips against mine. It was a light kiss, but still, it was enough for the world to stop for just a moment. He leaned back and smiled as he said huskily, “It’s that I am in love with Leon Sullen, and would be honored if he was my boyfriend.”</p><p>The words that I never thought he would say. They sang to me. I found myself lost for words as I just nodded dimly, before more confidently. “Y-Yes,” I forced myself to say, excitement exploding inside me. “Yes!”</p><p>“Excellent,” Chris said and our lips met again. And we kissed as in the distance sirens rang out towards us, flashing red and blue lights starting to surround us. They sounded like a choir of angels as inside me, and I’m sure inside Chris, the seeds that Lake planted inside us bloomed, not into his despair, but into a beautiful hopeful flower that will never wilt away.</p><p>THE END</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>